Warner Bros. Television to buy Alloy Entertainment

Warner Bros. Television Group, looking to expand in the teen and young adult market, agrees to buy Alloy Entertainment from ZelnickMedia.

Looking to expand its presence in the teen and young adult market, Warner Bros. Television Group has struck a deal to purchase Alloy Entertainment, a content company that specializes in youth-oriented books aimed particularly at females.

Although terms of the acquisition from ZelnickMedia Corp. were not disclosed, people with knowledge of the transaction who declined to speak publicly said the purchase price exceeded $100 million.

Alloy and Warner Bros. have collaborated on a number of TV shows and movies over the last several years. The Burbank TV studio produces several series based on Alloy book properties including "Gossip Girl" and "The Vampire Diaries" on the CW Network, "Pretty Little Liars" and "Lying Game" for cable channel ABC Family and the upcoming drama "666 Park Avenue," set to debut on ABC this fall.

The two companies have also teamed up on movies including "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "The Clique."

Warner Bros. TV Group President Bruce Rosenblum said the acquisition will give the studio "the exclusive ability to tap into Alloy Entertainment's wellspring of proven literary creativity."

The seeds for the deal were planted last summer when ZelnickMedia co-founder Strauss Zelnick met with Rosenblum to discuss how the two companies could work more closely. Talks soon shifted to Warner Bros. buying the New York company, which Zelnick said "was a natural."

Warner Bros. said Alloy President Leslie Morgenstein would remain with the company after the deal closes, which is expected in late summer or early fall.

Alloy Entertainment is the largest unit of Alloy Inc., which ZelnickMedia bought two years ago for $127 million. Zelnick will continue to own and operate Alloy's Channel One, a news network aimed at students, as well as Alloy Digital, which owns and operates a network of young adult websites.